A Finger Prick
by MOWSIES
Summary: It was just a finger prick, but Naruto felt like there was something wrong...


A/N: Well, this is the first story I decided to upload. Just wrote it on a whim, like, thirty-some minutes ago. Didn't even have a title either. It's not that great, but oh well. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: NARUTO AIN'T MINE. NOTHING ELSE IS MINE, EXCEPT FOR THIS STORY PLOT.

A FINGER PRICK

"Naruto."

Naruto turned to see Sakura standing next to him. She was wearing a beautiful black dress for the unfortunate occasion. He wanted to compliment the outfit and how it looked pretty on her, but all choices of words flew out of his head and the only thing he could do was stare at her.

"Hey, it's time to go now. Okay?"

Her voice was gentle and soothing, urging him to move from his current position, even though she knew it would be useless to do so. His eyes moved back to look at the object in front of him, body slouched over a little to show how unsettled he felt about the situation.

"Naruto?"

She placed a hand on his arm, unsure of what his actions would be.

"..."

He stayed motionless and continued to stare at the object in front of him. Memories flashed back in his mind, showing him the most favored moments of their lives together. Happy memories, funny memories, sad memories. The last memory he had...

*Flashback*

"Naruto, I'm going to work now, and I won't be home until late tonight. Take care of yourself, okay?"

Naruto grinned at him.

"Don't worry about me! I'll order pizza or something for dinner. You worry about yourself! You forget to eat sometimes when you work overtime!"

He chuckled.

"All right, I'll make sure to eat something later. Well, I'm off! Clean your dishes before you leave for school."

Naruto waved lazily at him.

"Yeah, yeah! See ya!"

Naruto watched him leave the kitchen and heard the front door close a few seconds later. He got up after finishing his breakfast and grabbed his plate to place in the sink, but lost his grip on it and it shattered upon impact with the floor.

"Shit!"

He bent down and picked up the broken pieces. As he was picking up the broken pieces, he pricked his finger on a sharp edge.

"Ow!"

He dropped the piece that pricked him and looked at his now bleeding finger. For some reason, he felt a strange sensation come over him. Something seemed wrong, but he didn't know what it was or why he was even thinking it was so. He threw away the pieces he grabbed from the floor into the garbage, washed his hands in the sink and bandaged up the bleeding finger. After bandaging up himself, he grabbed his cellphone and stared at it. He didn't understand why, but he felt like he needed to call someone, but who? Naruto continued staring at his cellphone for a little while longer, trying to figure out why he was still looking at it, his thumb running lightly over one of the numbers on the keypad, until he decided to turn it off and place it in his pocket and think about it later. He grabbed a broom and cleaned up the mess on the ground and headed for school afterwards.

The day went by very fast for Naruto. His attempts to woo Sakura, his childhood friend, were still being rejected. His homeroom teacher, Iruka-sensei, yelled at him again for the prank he pulled the day before. School lunch was disgusting as usual, but he dealt with it because it was the only edible thing in the school other than the "healthy" foods provided at the snack stand. He basically fell asleep for the rest of the day at school after lunch and ended up with an hour detention after school that day to make up for his "aloofness" in Orochimaru-sensei's class. After detention, he left for home, thinking the day was going not too bad at all, even though he got detention for not paying attention in class.

But there was something lurking at the back of his head, telling him that he needed to do something. He shook his head, telling himself that he was just out of it because he was being clumsy this morning and pricked his finger on a broken plate. As soon as he got home, he took off his school uniform and put on some more comfortable clothes and sat in the living room and watched some TV. It was almost time for his favorite Anime show, with a double feature today! Naruto was so excited! Detention had ended at the perfect time for him! As soon as the theme song popped up, the house phone rang.

"Aw, fuck! Who the hell is calling me at this time?"

So Naruto turned down the volume on the TV, got up and grabbed the phone after the fourth ring.

"Moshi moshi. Namikaze residence."

"Hello, is this Namikaze Naruto-kun I'm speaking to?"

Naruto froze, unsure of what to answer to this unknown person on the other line, speaking to him with such formality.

"...I'm Naruto. Who are you?"

"Naruto-kun, I'm Shizune and I work at the Konoha Hospital. I'm sorry to say this, but your father, Namikaze Minato, was in a car accident earlier today. He... didn't make it out alive. We need you to-"

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The phone fell to the ground, bouncing a couple of times before it stopped and just stayed there on the ground.

"...Hello? Naruto-kun? Naruto-kun, are you still there?"

Naruto looked at his hand and realized he dropped the phone.

"Naruto-kun? Hello?"

He reached down and shakily picked up the phone to place it back by his ear.

"Y-yeah. I-I'm here. What did you need again?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. We need you at the hospital as soon as possible to confirm your father's body. Is that possible?"

"...Um, yeah. Sure. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Naruto-kun, and I'm very sorry for your loss."

"...Yeah..."

CLICK!

Naruto turned off the phone and stared at it for a while. He turned it on again and dialed a number and placed the receiver by his ear again.

"Hello? Iruka-sensei? Hey, it's me, Naruto. Is it possible for you to give me a lift somewhere?"

*End Flashback*

"Naruto."

Naruto and Sakura turned towards the new voice.

"Iruka-sensei."

Iruka-sensei walked up to Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go eat ramen at Ichiraku's today for dinner. That sound good?"

Naruto blinked and looked down.

"...Yeah. That doesn't sound too bad."

Iruka put his hand down and smiled softly at him, then looked up at Sakura.

"Sakura, would you like to join us?"

She smiled back at Iruka-sensei.

"Sure."

She grabbed Naruto's arm and laid her head against it. Shocked by this sudden movement, Naruto turned to look at Sakura.

"Come on. Let's go. He wouldn't want you to stay here and stare at him all day."

Naruto's eyes softened and he smiled.

"Yeah. You're right."

He looked at his father's tombstone and placed a hand on it.

"...Bye Dad."


End file.
